American Art Review Study Project: What the volunteer does

American Art Review Study Project

Volumes XI through XVI

Volunteer Relationship Information

Volunteer to:

1. agree with TFAO to handle a number of agreed upon texts.

Recovery matrix composite scores of 1, 2, 4 and 5 indicate information desirable for the TFAO digital library or heightened probability of republishing. Texts with these favorable scores will be pursued for republishing. Scores of 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 indicate substantial information already available in the TFAO digital library or through external links, or low probability of republishing. Texts with these unfavorable scores will not be pursued.

TFAO's experience is that approximately 1/2 of texts worked on with favorable recovery matrix composite scores result in permissions granted. The most likely reason for permissions not obtained is inability to find the owner of the text. Less likely reasons are apathy or reluctance on the part of the owner in having the text republished or inability of the author to remember the ownership of the text or confusion as to ownership.

Issues of American Art Review are usually available in university libraries if the university has an art history department. Issues may also be available at public libraries, art museum libraries and at art dealers. Often the issues are in the library's reference department and cannot be checked out, requiring photocopies to be made. The usual library call number for the publication is: N6505 .A619 and the ISSN number is 0092-1327. A public library's inter-library loan department may be able to arrange for photocopies of pages from needed American Art Review issues from another library that carries American Art Review, subject to payment of a copying fee. Google searches and searches in library websites will locate libraries carrying the magazine.

2. become familiar with TFAO's About TFAO and Author Study and Index, plus Resource Library's Services to institutions, Scholarly text from private sources, and Content presentation guidelines, It's good to know -- if asked about viewership -- that TFAO's website is viewed by millions of people each year and is the most viewed website in the world devoted to American art. Sometimes it pleases an author or museum to know that many new people will be exposed to their texts and that TFAO will enable them to be more widely known. There are statistics at <http://tfaoi.org/aa/5aa/5aa49a.htm>.

3. determine the copyright ownership of each assigned American Art Review text.

TFAO has found it useful to read the biography of the author of each text. Contact with authors many times easily solves the question of copyright ownership of a text and the existence and ownership of a related catalogue essay. The biography of the author for each text is found in the back of each American Art Review issue. If the text is related to an exhibition, there will be placed next to the text summary information on the exhibition with the name of an exhibiting museum, its address and phone number. The exhibiting museum may not be the organizing museum. Organizing museums may hold copyrights, but exhibiting venues other than organizers do not own them.

For authors who are difficult to reach based on the biography in the back of the American Art Review issue, searches in Google advanced search and the Resource Library home page may help identify the present whereabouts of the author. Also, if TFAO's Author Study and Index indicates that the author has written an article in American Art Review or another magazine or journal published more recently, more recent issues may provide the present whereabouts of the author.

When speaking with an author, or co-authors, the volunteer should ask of each who is the copyright holder or holders and confirm the ownership which each party. If one of the authors can't be reached and the author who is contacted claims full copyright ownership, the volunteer may relay on the statement. If an author says that a museum owns or co-owns the article, the volunteer confirms the museum's ownership or co-ownership with the museum. If the author can't be reached, and the article is related to a museum exhibit, a curator or director at a museum in some instances may recall that the museum owns the article. Staff at small and medium-sided museums are usually able and willing to research ownership.

In instances where an American Art Review article is a condensation of a catalogue essay, the author often states ownership of the article and the museum or other publisher of the catalogue essay as owner of the underlying essay. If ownership, or co-ownership, is determined to be with a for-profit publisher, permission of the publisher is not sought.

At the beginning or end of the American Art Review text there may be a note indicating that it is a condensation or excerpt from a catalogue essay. Often there is no clear indication of whether the American Art Review text is an original article or essay, a condensation, or a reprint of an essay. In instances where an American Art Review article is found by the volunteer to be a condensation or excerpt of a catalogue essay, the volunteer and TFAO may agree that the greatest value to the public would be for the volunteer to seek the value derived from republishing the original essay. An underlying essay may offer significantly greater knowledge than is contained in the related American Art Review text. In those cases pursuit of approvals to republish the article may be agreed between the volunteer and the TFAO director to be a second choice in favor of pursuing the underlying essay. The pursuit of approvals for reprinting of related catalogue essays as first choice and in substitution for reprinting of American Art Review articles is described at Related catalogue essays.

Authors have repeatedly stated that articles written by them and published by American Art Review during the first study period are owned by the authors since they received no compensation from American Art Review. In some instances authors cannot remember who holds the copyright to an article. In infrequent instances authors will say that they were compensated by American Art Review.

When speaking with an author, the volunteer should verify that the author was not compensated by American Art Review and that the author believes that the magazine is not owner of the article. If an author does not remember whether or not he or she received compensation from American Art Review, or believes that American Art Review may be the owner or co-owner for any other reason, pursuit of permission for republishing is discontinued. In cases of uncertainty TFAO does not subsequently ask American Art Review to research whether or not an author was compensated for an articles published by it, does not seek its permission for republishing the article, and does not republish the article. If the author says that an entity other than American Art Review is the owner, the volunteer will seek the permission of the owner.

In early 2004 conversations between TFAO and Thomas Kellaway, publisher of American Art Review, Mr. Kellaway stated American Art Review's acceptance of Resource Library reprintings of articles owned by others, as long as TFAO contacts and gains permissions from the owners of articles, accompanying images of art objects are not reprinted, and .pdf images of entire pages are not published by Resource Library. TFAO extends courtesy to American Art Review through an editor's note for each article by stating the issue in which the article appeared in American Art Review and providing a link to the American Art Review website.

Permissions are sought after ownership is established when speaking with each party who claims ownership of an article, except for those instances where the permissions process is discontinued, as explained above.

The volunteer may wish to keep field notes on some type of progress form. Click here for a printable copy of a form found in the past to be useful by TFAO in keeping notes.

4. secure permission with copyright owners for TFAO to reprint texts.

Before seeking approvals of copyright owners, the volunteer should become familiar with TFAO's page on Acquisition and deselection of content for the TFAO-dl. This page provides reassurance to copyright owners through TFAO's promises regarding republishing of texts. TFAO's sample letters may be of benefit to the volunteer in phrasing emails or conversation with copyright owners.

Email letters are best preceded by phone conversations confirming the ownership of texts.

TFAO will not send paper copies of online-printed texts to owners. Links will be sent by TFAO as a courtesy when requested.

TFAO has found that referrals to the rights and reproductions departments of museums are almost always errors on the part of the museum. If copyright owners challenge the legitimacy of the volunteer's relationship with TFAO they may call TFAO or send an email to TFAO's director for verification. TFAO will be pleased to provide an email letter of introduction for the benefit of the volunteer.

5. arrange for copyright owners to send permissions emails directly to TFAO (with CCs to the volunteer) indicating their approvals for republishing online in Resource Library.

The final approval emails from the copyright owners are to be for one time publication in Resource Library,

6. obtain from copyright owner or author text in .doc format in accordance with Submitting materials.

7. email to TFAO a complete presentation package for each fully processed text to include:

a. forwarded email letter of the volunteer's CC copy of the permission from the copyright owner previously sent to TFAO

b. text in .doc format in accordance with Submitting materials.

c. "about the author" text. For author information the volunteer provides either what the text's owner sends to the volunteer or uses basic facts from the American Art Review biography such as: "At the time of writing of the above article [author name] was the [job title] at the [name of employer]."

d. Resource Library page header for the article indicating contact information for comments or for securing reprints and the "Editor's note" for the bottom of the page which includes acknowledgements for assistance in gaining permissions and other information.

For the page header TFAO first states the date of permission and the owner of the text. TFAO always wants the reader to have a means of reaching the text owner directly (valid at time of publication as TFAO does not update owner info later on) -- without contacting TFAO. TFAO does not want readers contacting it (usually years later) with the intent of TFAO trying to figure out how to route them to the source. TFAO only provides author/owner's personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers if they expressly want TFAO to do so. Otherwise, regarding author owners, TFAO publishes only the employer's postal address, or web site and/or phone number. Sometimes TFAO publishes information on the last known place of employment as the last resort. Here is a page header example:

Editor's note: The following text was reprinted in Resource Library on [month, day, year] with the permission of [name of copyright holder]. If you have questions or comments regarding the text, please contact [name of copyright holder] directly through this [phone number] and [address]:

[phone number]

[website or other address]

TFAO will add gray color to the text at its office.

For the "Editor's note" TFAO repeats part of the header regarding the permission. Then the date of permission is added. If applicable, reference is then made to an exhibition related to the article. The reference to American Art Review should be as stated in the example. TFAO mentions American Art Review as a courtesy and publishes a link to its website. Lastly, TFAO acknowledges who helped gain the permission. If the article was published in whole earlier in a catalogue or brochure, this first instances of publication is noted. Here is an "Editor's note" example:

Resource Library editor's note:

The above text was reprinted in Resource Library on [month, day, year] with permission of [name of copyright holder], which was granted to TFAO on [month, day, year]. [author's name]'s article pertains to [name and dates of exhibition if applicable]. This text was also published in the [month/year] issue of American Art Review.

Resource Library wishes to extend appreciation to [name of volunteer plus any other persons who helped gain permission] for [her/his/their] help concerning permission for reprinting the above text.

At TFAO's office TFAO will activate a link to American Art Review's website and add a disclaimer after the "Editor's note that says:

Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History. Individual pages in this catalogue will be amended as TFAO adds content, corrects errors and reorganizes sections for improved readability. Refreshing or reloading pages enables readers to view the latest updates.

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